Making New Microscale Materials

Synthesis Collage — From left to right: Optically responsive microgels. Microfabricated hydrogel susbtrate. Silica microparticles with tailored surfaces. Particle-induced defects in liquid crystalline films. Printing on particles.

A key expertise of our group is the realization of colloidal particles with controlled surfaces, as well as tailored geometry and composition. We combine synthetic methods, direct microfabrication, and self- and guided assembly to create microscale units with a fine control over surface and bulk properties.

We focus on tailoring surface roughness and chemistry, which are important parameters to develop model systems to elucidate the role played by those properties in processes such as the discontinuous shear thickening of dense pastes and Pickering stabilization of emulsions. We employ capillary assembly to realize a broad range of asymmetric, hybrid and multifunctional particles, which are the starting point for the realization of a new class of active colloidal materials.

Finally, we combine direct assembly and nanolithography tools to expand the horizon of microscale structures that can be achieved by both approaches alone and push the boundaries for the realization of new microstructured materials.